Where Does Indoor Soundscaping Stand in Architectural Practice? Opinions of the Built Environment Experts

Abstract

Noise regulations and acoustics standards have been increasingly in operation to manage noise exposures in built environment fields. On the other hand, with its positive attitude towards sounds and addressing sounds as a resource, the rather recent field of soundscaping has not been much considered by experts in the built environment. Accordingly, this study aims to address this gap and collect opinions and feedback from built environment experts on the role of indoor soundscaping during architectural practice. Interviews with field experts such as architects and interior architects are carried out through semi-structured questionnaires to gather data on; (1) noise, acoustics, and soundscape-related considerations and applications, (2) awareness of noise, acoustics, and indoor soundscape terminology, (3) integration of indoor soundscaping principles in architectural design and application. Within the scope of this study, the data gathered from the field experts are used to drive evaluations on awareness, expectation, and importance regarding the role of indoor soundscaping during architectural practice and more specifically, sound in spatial design. As a result, this study is expected to be an initial step to increase awareness regarding the importance of including indoor soundscaping during architectural design and application by revealing the overlooked points obtained from field experts. © 2023 First author et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.